Wednesday, February 22, 2012

UPDATE: Salsa company is broke

UPDATE: A correction has been made in the last paragraph to note that the Labor Board will not help Nadia Cordoba collect back pay.

——————ORIGINAL POST, 4:22 P.M., FEB. 22——————

Nadia Cordoba, a former employee of a once-promising local company, found out today that the complaint she had filed for seven weeks of back pay has been dismissed.

As we reported last week, Cordoba and three of her former coworkers claim that they worked for Santoscoy Food Group for weeks without pay, with the promise that once the small company found a way, it would them all their back pay. Eventually, she and her coworkers were fired instead and now it appears that the company, which was banking on the owner's salsa hitting shelves in supermarkets nationwide, is broke.

Santoscoy was the brainchild of Sandra and Paul Sherer. They were fixtures in the Springs, having owned and operated Café El Paso on North Nevada Avenue for 10 years, but Sandra had the dream of mass-producing salsas based on a family recipe.

In October the Sherers closed their restaurant, saying they'd focus exclusively on the salsa business.

According to Cordoba, she was informed by the Labor Board today that the state agency will not help her collect the money that they claim they're owed because the company has no money from which to collect.

Cordoba said that she would pursue the alleged debt in small claims court.